Deflecting
by Im-SwellxD
Summary: "I know you're there," the deep voice echoed softly on the flat surfaces leading through the entrance to where he loitered. Bakugou refrained from flinching, still standing with his back against the wall and his fists in his pockets, a frown still tightly tugging at his features. Trust the guy to know that he'd been there, and here he'd been thinking that he could just slip away.


**_Season 2 Episode 6 inspired: _**_The part where Todoroki and Izuku were talking and Bakugou was standing behind the wall, out of sight and heard everything._

* * *

The real first thing he'd felt was shock, pure and filled with disbelief and rage, the complete blow to his brain and mind to know that someone could do something like that, especially to the flesh and blood that they created. He couldn't believe it; couldn't believe that a person could do that, let alone a parent, _let alone BOTH parents._

Bakugou felt a scorching itch clawing at the back of his neck, his frown heavy and deep with angry disbelief that someone could be that cruel. What were parents for if they weren't there to raise you, care for you and teach you right from wrong? Even with his own mother. He and the hag lashed out at each other and from the outside, it looked unhealthy, but that was the two of them bonding, it was a sort of fond way they acted and that was them having a normal relationship. What people saw and what he saw were two completely different things.

But this... with Icy-Hot... that was something _entirely_ different, at first glance being whatever and actually _knowing_ what went on, it was worse than what people saw. Way worse than what he could've imagined.

There was no bright side to a family like that unless the victim was well away from the abusers. What was Icy-Hot's living situation? Had he been under his fathers' roof up until now? Or his mothers? _Did he live alone?_ Not that he cared all that much, Bakugou just thinking that the guy wouldn't be stupid enough to still be living with one of them, let alone both of them. _And if he was, then he misjudged how many brain cells the guy actually had compared to how smart he appeared in class._

"I'm going to show him that I reject his power," Bakugou's attention returned to the two around the corner, hearing Icy-Hot's solid claim, "That I can take First place without using it," as driven as he sounded, he had to know that that meant he wouldn't be at full strength... and yet the guy had made it this far with just his ice.

His shoulder-blades being silently pressed against the wall behind him, Bakugou's frown deepened, his fists tightening in his pockets, gripping the insides just to have a hold of something, to feel as though he were holding the collar of some useless extra from his class or another class. He wanted to grab the collar of one of the idiots around the corner, just to get this bubbling rage out. _Why was he even angry, it's not like it was any of his business._

"You're obviously connected to All Might-," the blonde heard along with a few light footsteps, the voice not getting farther away, telling him that it was Deku that walked a little ways away, "-even if you won't tell me about it. But no matter how fiercely you come at me in the future, I _will_ defeat you only using my right side," another claim, his words never wavering. He was dead-set on making it happen, "I can assure you of that,"

There was a long pause that followed, a while later, there being a sound that he couldn't really describe as anything other than an acknowledge understanding from that shorter idiot. He shook his head silently to himself, internally booting himself upon realizing that he was still angry... it was a _different_ angry, not the usual explosive rage he usually had and let it out. This was... boiling, like hot water bubbling in a pan over a burner. Simmering anger?

"I know you're there," the deep voice echoed softly on the flat surfaces leading through the entrance to where he loitered.

Bakugou refrained from flinching, still standing with his back against the wall and his fists in his pockets, a frown still tightly tugging at his features. Trust the guy to know that he'd been there, and here he'd been thinking that he could just slip back to the crowd of extras in the stadium without being noticed by Ice-Hot or Deku. Shit... whatever.

Sighing heavily, he lifted himself from the wall and casually turned towards the entrance, rounding the corner with his usual uncaring expression, trying to pass off the frown as his default look. Which it usually was, but he could tell that at least two in the class _knew_ when the frown was for a reason. He'd bet that this guy was one of them, _what with the analytical stare he was getting from the Half 'n Half bastard._

"Didn't take you for one to eavesdrop on the competition," the other spoke first, those few words boiling up a second pan, but with his usual anger spilling over pretty much immediately as he was accused by the jackass.

"I wasn't eavesdropping, idiot!" he snapped, body tense and tight with rage as he glared back that frustratingly chill expression the other guy had on his face. The fact that he didn't seem bothered at all just made it even more irritating, "I was walking around when I heard you talking with the damn nerd!" Bakugou added as a way to defend himself, his claim being a lie but no one had to know that.

"So you figured you'd sit back and listen? Hate to tell you, but that's eavesdropping," Icy-Hot countered flatly, his tone as dry as that burn on the side of his damn face, the burn that his gaze lingered on a little more consciously than he'd liked. Bakugou growled, his knuckles turning white in his pockets.

"I wasn't!" the blonde barked, taking a few absentminded steps forward towards the other boy, who still seemed completely disinterested and as composed as ever. He hated it. He _seriously_ hated it. He had this mask that he couldn't get through. He couldn't read him!

"Then what, you were waiting until we were done so you could talk?" the blunt disbelief in his tone pissed him off, heat squirming under his skin, "You don't talk first. We both know you're not a talker," Bakugou growled under his breath, hating the fact the guy was apparently _trying_ to rile him up-, "You blow up, destroy," _riling him up..._ Was he doing it on purpose? He was smarter than that. He _had_ to be doing it intentionally, "You're destructive nature doesn't leave room for a civil conversa-,"

"Stop it," Bakugou growled firmly, his tone having turned serious and uncharacteristically controlled and even. Icy-Hot was trying to distract him by pissing him off, fully aware that his anger could easily take over during a conversation, despite how serious the topic was. Anywhere and anytime, no matter the situation.

"Stop what?" the other replied in question, Bakugou seeing that very fine twitch of a frown on his face, decently and delicately hidden behind that calm exterior he hated so much. He still remained so composed, even after baring all that truth to Deku, something that even the blonde had been initially shaken by.

"Deflecting!" he snapped, taking a few more steps towards him, heavy and firm, until he was standing only a foot ahead of him, the two facing each other, "You're _sidetracking_ my focus!" Bakugou reached out, roughly grabbing Icy-Hot's collar to drag him closer, _"Trying_ to piss me off to hide behind that mask, coward!" he growled in his face, eyes redirecting to the telltale twitches that gave him away before his gaze sharply returned to the mismatched irises, _that faltered a little upon locking their stares._

"Bullseye," Bakugou muttered with a kind of victorious calm that he'd never shown any other person in class, and to his knowledge, he hadn't shown Deku either. What he hated more than this guy's irritatingly calm composure was his attempts to deflect whatever was going on by using him as the explosive loudmouth everyone thought he was.

He inched him that much closer by the collar of his training uniform, "Don't use _my_ anger to sidetrack _your_ problems!" Bakugou ordered darkly, face to face and just barely an inch away. He could feel Icy-Hots breath brushing his face, hot against his mouth and cheeks.

"Let me go," each soft word was a puff of hot air ghosting along his skin, the heavy yet watered-down glare he received not matching the intensity he'd heard in the guys' voice when he was talking to the nerd.

"No," he wanted to hear _that_ Todoroki, not this one. He wanted to see that strong resolve, to hear it directed _his_ way. He wanted to see that passion in his unequal eyes but concentrated towards him instead of Deku.

"Let. Me. Go," his tone was firmer, a little stronger than before. He saw the hand reach up in his peripheral, the cool grip lacing his wrist as more of a lazy warning than anything intimidating or dangerous. He wanted to see it, wanted to see the Todoroki that he'd seen through the minefield during their first test and the Todoroki that Deku had seen only minutes before.

"Not happening," Bakugou's tone was stronger, even with his unyielding tenacity. But then the pause came, the blonde just barely catching the switch, that sharpness suddenly returning to those mismatched eyes.

He'd been about to smirk with his victory, his want having been answered, but then he'd felt strong hands on his upper arms, the hand gone from his wrist and holding him, pushing him. Bakugou was forced back, Icy-Hot having caught him off guard for a second and stumbled him back against the wall until his spine and shoulder-blades collided with it.

"Hey!" the blonde sharply snapped, scowling at him and holding the dark stare until he saw something different in that expression, something lingering and burning hotter than the look he'd gotten when they fought between the mines.

"Let go," the other sort of requested, sort of ordered, the hands on his upper arms shifting and tightening but not to the point it'd hurt. _It felt more... how could he explain it...? Like he didn't want to move? _It wasn't possessive and it wasn't comforting for Bakugou. _At not entirely, anyway._

"No," he replied after a long moment of stretched out silence, _Bakugou_ feeling overly-conscious of the proximity between them, or lack thereof. He was always the one to get up in peoples face, and he was rarely on the receiving end of it, his mother being the only one to ever dare use the method of intimidation on him.

With Icy-Hot, it was different. It wasn't intimidating; it just made him feel out of place, too close and hot while being cramped and caged to the wall.

_Even more so when he saw the Half 'n Half get 'that' much closer to the point that he could feel where the cold and heat parted on his skin, the differing temperatures so contrast and radiating, brushing his own 'normal' warm skin._

The back of his head gradually met the wall, eyes having never left the other as his skull had been slowly forced back with Todoroki's advances. They were still too close for his liking, Icy-Hot not seeming bothered again, but it felt like before, it felt like the normal, default rather than the masked hiding that he'd been met with after he'd been called out.

His grip stayed taut, Bakugou still holding onto the other boys' collar with a tough grasp, said boys' hands still where he'd left them, pressure still behind them as he was pressed flatly against the flat surface of the wall. There was too little space between them, the blonde well aware that the slightest shifting would cause multiple places to brush against his classmate. _And not simply because a few places were already touching._

"Why," one of them finally spoke, Bakugou unable to look elsewhere what with the other taking up almost _all_ of the space within his sight-line. He frowned in silent question before noticing the nod towards the blondes' hand, where he still held his collar in a death grip. He didn't have that good of an answer, it was to get the reaction he wanted, to rile him as Icy-Hot had done to him.

"I don't care about any of the others," he flat out stated, his tone blunt and honest with the meaning behind his logic. Fighting, in that aspect, he couldn't give two shits about fighting anyone besides Deku and Icy-Hot, "I wanted to see the you that's looking at me right now," _he wanted to 'fight' the Todoroki that was looking at him right then and there. The heat behind his eyes, he wanted to see it more often, directed at him._

"_This_ me, huh," the smirk that followed was different. He'd never seen the guy smirk before, so when he _did_ see it, Bakugou frowned, the tone the other had sounding as though he knew something the blonde didn't, "You don't know what you're asking for," and that only confused him and made him question what he was talking about.

"Give me _somethin'_, Icy-Hot!" he wanted a fight, he wanted a challenge and none of the others could. Kirishima, maybe, but more often than not, he felt as though they'd work together during team-ups since he'd been his front-horse during the last test. And Deku would just run away like a coward.

"Don't blame me if you regret your request," humming deeply in question, Bakugou was about to retort, planning to counter his words with something he would normally say to a statement like that, but he was cut short before he could even say anything.

The blonde had opened his mouth with a glare, said glare swiftly being replaced with pure surprise as cool lips were suddenly pressed against his own just after they parted, his eyes growing wide and his posture freezing in place against the wall. His mind had gone blank, hands unsure of where to go or what to do as one was still pocketed and the other was still holding Todoroki's collar.

It took him a while to actually process the gradually warming lips shifting against him, his mouth slowly and automatically moving with them. The hand on the others' clothes jerked slightly, Bakugou feeling the more stoic student press flush against him from pelvis to chest, his hands moving from his arms and ghosting down the limbs until they stopped at his hips, thumbs digging in at the front and fingers curling around the back.

_He didn't get this. He didn't understand it. What did he mean? The look he'd been given, it was heated, like Bakugou's when he wanted to fight, right? What did he think Bakugou meant when he'd said about wanting to see the Todoroki that had been looking at him?_

Slipping his other hand out of his pocket, Bakugou lifted it to the others shoulder, putting pressure on it while still being pressed against the wall, Icy-Hot completely crowding him and making as much of them touch as he could from what he could feel. He was getting too hot, breath coming in short pants through his nose while his eyes fought to close; lids only open to slits as he tried to not be swept up in the heat of the damn kiss-.

_Heat..._ Bakugou's eyes opened just slightly at the potential realization. _The heat he'd seen in his eyes... was that... this?_ He panted softly through his nose, the grip on the others' collar loosening so that he could have both hands on Icy-Hot's shoulders. He had strength, he had his Quirk and he was prepared to use them, but it could draw attention. And with how hot his face felt, he really didn't want people coming around to see him blushing like a fuckin' girl who just got her first kiss.

No later than that thought crossed his mind, the pressure eased off, Bakugou finally able to catch his breath as Todoroki parted their lips and stared down at him with that same smirk. It wasn't the same, the expression, that _heat_ they both had. They were different, different variations entirely.

Lifting one of his hands, he palmed his mouth, covering his hot lips while trying to ignore the warmth brushing his cheeks. And the idiot was still smirking, even as he gradually stepped back and turned to walk around, his mismatched stare still on him.

"See you back in the stadium," Todoroki scoffed shortly, his pace regulating to his normal speed as he walked away, disappearing around the corner and leaving Bakugou against the wall where he tried to calm his beating heart and breathless lungs.

Icy-Hot... bastard!" he barked under his breath, gritting his teeth and blushing harder while trying to force away the thought that he'd literally misunderstood the situation until his realization, "Idiot!" he snapped quietly again, uncertain of whether he'd just insulted Icy-Hot or himself with that one.


End file.
